The watch night service of 1862 was celebrated by enslaved and free African Americans, abolitionists, and others awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation would become law to free Blacks living in the South. The National Moral Revival Poor People’s Campaign Social Justice Watch Night Service, in 2016, will bring together diverse communities in a shared fight against extremism and commitment to advance state based moral public policy agendas.
[Led by the Rev. Dr. William Barber III; the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr.; the Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon; and, the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis,] they will call on people of conscience to make a moral decision to enlist the fight against systematic racism, poverty, child, extremism, denial of healthcare, voter suppression, environmental injustice, xenophobia, unchecked militarism, homophobia, transphobia, and the injustice of our current moment in history. [They] will call for a race and poverty audit of America!And [they] will call for a national Moral Revival Poor People’s Campaign in 2017 and 2018 demanding that we address systemic policy-based racism, poverty, healthcare, and xenophobia.
The service will include some sermons and testimonies from leaders of various social struggles, as well as persons impacted by policy-based racism, poverty, healthcare access, and xenophobia. Religious leaders will commit to not retreat in this moment and to stand up for a moral agenda that includes health care access for all, equality in education, criminal justice reform, economic justice, and equal protection under the law.
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Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is Pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church, Disciples of Christ in Goldsboro, North Carolina and architect of the Forward […]
